Sensex gains for fifth day; Cipla surges to record high

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Last Updated: Tue, Nov 06, 2012 12:05 hrs

The Sensex rose for a fifth consecutive session on Tuesday, with drugmaker Cipla jumping after reporting a surge in quarterly earnings while State Bank of India rose on hopes of rising demand for loans in the holiday season.

However, the recent gains have come amid largely cautious sentiment as investors wait for the U.S. election results, and as uncertainty prevails over Greece's next aid payment.

Quarterly results from blue chips such as Tata Motors and State Bank of India , which are due this week, will be key for near-term direction, but analysts say a clear roadmap on reforms and actual groundwork is more important for medium-term view.

"Markets will make an attempt to go up further, and is optimistic that government will come out with next round of reforms which should kick start the investment cycle," said Mehraboon Irani, principal and head of private client group at Nirmal Bang Securities.

The investment cycle would be stoked by action on issues such as National Investment Bill, land acquisition and clear coal linkages, Irani added.

0.29 percent, or 54.51 points, to end at 18,817.38, bringing its gains to 2.1 percent over the past five sessions.

The Nifty rose 0.35 percent, or 20.20 points, to 5,724.40, gaining over 2.26 percent over the previous five sessions.

Shares in Cipla gained 4.38 percent to 396.85, having earlier hit a record high of 398.90 rupees, after the drugmaker reported a bigger-than-expected 62 percent surge in July-September net profit.

Despite the surge in share prices, Citigroup said on Tuesday it remains cautious on Cipla, adding that the earnings surprise was mainly driven by the generic version of anti-depressant drug Lexapro, whose exclusivity would tail off in the second half of the fiscal year.

State Bank of India rose 1.3 percent ahead of its September quarter results on Friday.

Property firms gained, with Housing Development & Infrastructure Ltd up 5.85 percent and DLF up 1.9 percent on hopes for a pickup in demand tied to the Diwali festival season in mid-November, a time considered auspicious in the country.

Cement makers extended a recent winning streak on continued hopes that cement prices will rise on the back of stronger seasonal demand.

ACC gained 2.6 percent, up for a fifth consecutive session and Ambuja Cements gained 2.57 percent, up for a fourth session.

Shares in Amara Raja Batteries jumped 16 percent a day after the company reported a bigger-than-expected 35.2 percent gain in July-September net profit.

Angel Broking said the battery maker posted "extremely strong results," adding that earnings growth was driven by the automotive battery replacement segment, as well as by momentum in the tubular and home uninterruptible power supply (UPS) segment.

Ashok Leyland rose 0.6 percent after Morgan Stanley upgraded it to 'overweight' from 'underweight', calling the bus- and truck-maker "a good proxy to play the eventual industrial recovery."

However, among stocks that fell, Tata Motors ended 1.06 percent lower ahead of earnings on Wednesday, even as Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to 'overweight' from 'equal weight', citing more stability in the China market, among other factors.